Monday, July 23, 2007

I officially passed 2000 miles for the year on my way to work this morning. With onlyt 440 of those miles coming from recreational riding, that's a lot of money saved on gasoline and wear/tear on my car. Also, consider that each time I drive my car, the fuel and parking costs alone are about $9. Today's my 107th day of bicycle commuting this year. If you do the numbers and account for the $15 per month bus pass and about 1 inner tube per month, I've saved over $800 in commuting expenses so far. Sure, I've spent over $1000 in bicycle stuff since January 1st, but hey... I'll break even eventually, right? By my numbers, I will have paid for my bike in transportation savings by September or so. Besides, if you count what 7 months of membership at a gym would cost to get me to where I am health-wise, it would probably be far more than $200.

It looks like there's a good chance my homeward commute might get rained out. If it's cleared up, I plan on really packing on some miles today.

I want to start with the 15 mile trip home. I plan on being home before 4:45 tonight, but we'll see how that pans out. If I have to take the bus, I won't get home until a little after 5:00. Next, I'll ride to the Trek Store for the Monday night recovery ride. Getting there and back will be about 11 miles, and the ride itself is usually 8-12 miles. If all of this riding pans out, I should have about 50 miles logged today. If it rains for my trip home but clears up in time for my Monday night ride, I'll probably get about 25-35 miles today. If it rains and doesn't stop, it'll be more like 15 miles, unless I want to load the MTB up into the Explorer and drive 5 miles to the group ride. What's funny is that I HATE when people do that. Ride your bike to the group ride, for the love of all things good in the world! Alas, miles are miles. And I like miles right now. I think I might even taste a 600 mile month...

4 comments:

Wow! Congratulations on all the miles. Last week was the lamest week, mileage-wise, that I've had in a long time. It's time to make up for it now.

My riding is tipped in the opposite direction, with a lot more recreational miles than transportational ones. I need to work on using the bike for getting around town more.

On your point about riding to rides: I agree completely. That's also one thing I love about road biking above mountain biking: the ability to leave from my house and just ride. Having to drive to a trail can be a real drag.

I'm curious about the specific health advantages/disadvantages you may have noticed if any. I'm thinking about starting to bike to work (only 4 miles one way-within Olathe). After 2000 miles have you seen physical changes in your body such as weight loss, muscle gain etc.? I'm guessing that your cardio is improved, but I want to know if my gut will improve?!

HoWeCogitate: I started by riding in Olathe, 3 miles or so each way to and from the bus stop. I noticed a little weight loss right off the bat, then "inch loss" where my waist and legs were toning up but I wasn't losing any weight. This plateau lasted several weeks.

The last 4 weeks, I've really stepped up the riding and I'm noticing more weight loss. My cardio is better. My lungs are better. My legs are getting there. I saw some pics from 2003 and my legs looked kind of Michelin Man-ish. Now, they're toned. Not bulging and muscular, but firm.

My gut is shrinking, but my wife says what used to be chubby fat is now flab, lacking some substance. It's undoubtedly time to add some push-ups, pull-ups, and sit ups to my daily routine, if not some more intense upper body work. The good thing is that now my heart and lungs will be able to handle that kind of work.

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